


Falling For You (Literally)

by Anubis_2701



Series: SakuAtsu Fluff Week 2021 [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Blood and Injury, Concussions, Falling In Love, Festivals, Flirting, Getting Together, Guard Miya Atsumu, Healer Sakusa Kiyoomi, Holding Hands, Kissing, M/M, Magic, Medical Procedures, Miya Atsumu Being an Idiot, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Soft Sakusa Kiyoomi, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winter Solstice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28952280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anubis_2701/pseuds/Anubis_2701
Summary: The first time Atsumu fell off the wall was an accident. After that? Not so much.But who could blame him for getting repeatedly injured when the city healer was so damnbeautiful?(Or, Sakusa is a local healer, and Atsumu is a guard working in the city watchtowers, who considers the best way to get his attention to fall from said watchtowers. Repeatedly.)(Thank god Sakusa is good at his job.)
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Series: SakuAtsu Fluff Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115333
Comments: 8
Kudos: 165
Collections: Sakuatsu Fluff Week 2021 <3





	Falling For You (Literally)

**Author's Note:**

> SakuAtsu Fluff Week Day 2, Tier 2: Fantasy/Supernatural AU
> 
> Thank you to my beta [May](https://archiveofourown.org/users/May_Flowers)! Hope you guys all enjoy the fic!

The first time was an accident.

As one of the city guard’s newest recruits, Miya Atsumu was surefooted, calm, and dependable in case of emergencies. He had been among only a handful to be selected from the trained ranks of new soldiers, after all, and given one of the highest positions of trust in the city. He knew what he was doing.

But he was  _ also _ a twenty-three-year-old man, who’d been roped into getting drinks at the tavern with friends of his to celebrate someone’s engagement. Which had resulted in him getting very little sleep and waking up with a headache that seemed liable to split his skull open if he so much as turned his head wrong.

That normally wouldn’t have been an issue, but there had been wild storms recently – a result of feuding between the Dwarves and Fairies in the Thicket, a nearby forest positively  _ infested  _ with magic – so parts of the wall, already old and in need of improvement, had crumbled under the strain of lashing winds and torrential rain. It was nothing major, but it had loosened several stones at the top, where the wall was most weathered and worn.

Which was why Atsumu didn’t fault himself too much for what had happened. Yes, he could have potentially avoided stepping onto the patch of loose stones, if he hadn’t been hungover and essentially blind and deaf to anything that wasn’t hot tea or a shouting overseer.

But the patch of stones was the primary cause.

He had been crossing a slender section of the wall when it happened.

Most cities nowadays had walls; less to keep people out and more to keep track of who exactly was coming in. After all, kingdoms in the south had been struck badly by plague in the last few years, and the north hardly wanted to follow their lead. Amaina, the city that Atsumu had always called home, had never not had one. Which was probably why it was now a little worse for wear. The wall was in serious need of an upgrade, but with no talented builders or sorcerers around to help do so, one was yet forthcoming.

Amaina’s wall had few advantages, but one of them was this; it wasn’t very tall. Since their city council convened with the Thicket’s giants so frequently, the wall had been built to roughly a giant’s eye level. As such, at its apex, it only stood about seven metres tall.

Which was good news for Atsumu, as when he stepped onto a patch of loose stone, it gave way and he plummeted to the ground.

The sound that escaped was somewhere between a yelp of surprise and a very manly, very deep grunt. And less than half a second after said sound had escaped him, he was slamming into solid ground, air rushing out of him in a very dignified wheeze.

“Shit! You alright Atsumu?” a voice called out from above him as his vision swam, an ache already spreading up his side from his hard landing. He blinked up at the face he could see far above him, registering the sounds of people rushing over towards him.

“Oh, just peachy, Aran,” he wheezed. “Just fuckin’ peachy.”

“Oh, poor lad,” he heard a woman’s voice tut as strong hands gently pushed him into a sitting position, “you feeling alright?”

He opened his mouth to speak, to assure her that he was  _ fine _ , it had just been a stupid accident, when his head spun with a vengeance. He groaned, hands finding his temples as he blinked black spots out of his vision. He registered sympathetic tutting again. “We’d better take him to Sakusa, I think. Poor thing probably hit his head when he landed.”

Arms looped around his waist and tugged him to his feet as he was walked away from the sheer stone wall and down a wide street. He blinked, unsure if the lingering grogginess in his head was from his hangover or the fall. Panic built in his gut as he considered the possibility of actually having been badly hurt; it was something of a fear of his, considering he had a cousin who’d become crippled after falling from a large tree as a child. They’d had no healers in their area, what with the rareness of magic users, and by the time his cousin had also moved to Amaina, it had been too late for healers to fix the old injury.

Atsumu swallowed thickly as he was manoeuvred towards a storefront. He’d never been to the city’s apothecary before, but it was an interesting looking place. The building was about three storeys tall, with an open design that let him see up to the floors above, hedged off by banisters overlooking the ground floor.

The main room was decked out with flat slabs of stone that clearly acted as observation tables, the bottoms of which had been repurposed as supply stores. To the right was a large, worn desk, behind which stood a man with black and white hair skimming a thick book. Judging by his dirt-speckled gloves, rough-spun clothing and the flower tucked behind his ear, was Amaina’s famous herbalist.The wall behind said man was packed with huge bookshelves. The floors above, visible over the balconies, were thickly packed with benches stuffed full of herbs, bottles, rolls of fur, parchment and all sorts of other things. By another wall stood a table on which countless scales, knives and mortar and pestles were scattered. Hanging baskets around their heads were stuffed ferns and planted flowers, emanated a slightly sweet smell that permeated the whole room.

The man behind the desk looked at them, squinting for a moment before setting down his book.

“Can I help you?” he asked, his tone just as calm and level as his facial expression. One of the women holding Atsumu up nodded.

“Yes, please. This poor lad fell from the top of the wall.”

“I see,” he murmured, turning to shout through what must have been a door to a backroom, “Sakusa! Patient for you.” He turned back to them, bowing his head slightly as he moved around the desk. 

“Just get him up on this table here,” he said, patting one of the stone benches.

Atsumu shivered at the coldness of the stone as he was hefted up onto it, legs hanging over the edge. He eyed his feet, blinking when the edges of his boots blurred slightly.

“So, what’s the problem today?” a new voice said, strangely soothing as Atsumu’s helpers repeated what they had told the herbalist. 

“I see,” the newcomer said, “Kita, can you see if we have any peppermint oil left?” the herbalist departed with a nod, and Atsumu found his head being turned to the side. “Face me, please.”

_ Oh _ .

Atsumu had never come to the apothecary before, and as such never once laid eyes on either the herbalist nor the healer. But looking at the latter of the two now, he wondered whether that had been a mistake, because he was  _ beautiful _ .

His skin was smooth and unblemished, with a light olive tone that spoke of southern heritage. Thick, black curls swept over his brow, neatly constrained to one side and exposing the two dark moles that adorned the uncovered side of his forehead. His eyes were dark, so dark they looked black, framed by long lashes that seemed to gently kiss at his cheeks with every blink. A pair of round glasses with thin gold frames sat on the bridge of his nose, catching the light with every slight movement.

He was dressed in fairly simple clothes – a white shirt, black pants and leather boots – save for his coat. The coat that he was wrapped in from neck to knee was a deep emerald green, covered with fine embroidery and sewn so it was perfectly tailored to his body. It was the most breathtaking piece of clothing Atsumu had ever seen, but even that remarkable intricacy paled in comparison to the one wearing it.

“He fell from the top of the wall, you say?” the healer murmured, voice deep and calming as he pulled on a pair of thin leather gloves and gently turned Atsumu’s head from side to side, scrutinising him closely. Atsumu felt a flush creep up his neck, overwhelmed by how close the stunning man was. “That’s quite a fall.”

Gloved fingers gently probed along the sides and back of his head, the healer’s smooth brow crinkling slightly. “Well, you don’t seem to have any immediately recognisable lumps or bumps, which is a good sign. Do you remember what you landed on?”

“Oh, uhh…” Atsumu swallowed, wishing he hadn’t chosen now to notice that the healer smelled like coffee grounds, his mouth had dried out completely, “my side, I think. Right.”

The healer turned his attention to the right side of Atsumu’s head, prodding gently and asking if he felt pain anywhere. After Atsumu gave the negative, the man pulled away and held up a finger. “Follow my finger with your eyes.”

He did as he was bid, blinking when the man then pulled off one of his gloves, his jaw dropping open when the healer snapped a finger, flame bursting to life between them. Even with how close he held it to Atsumu’s face, he didn’t feel even the slightest hint of heat. After a moment of staring hard into Atsumu’s eyes, he nodded in satisfaction and put the flame out. The healer noticed Atsumu’s eyes lingering on his hands, and smiled slightly.

“It’s a harmless little spell, I promise.”

“Oh, no I wasn’t worried,” Atsumu said earnestly, “I’ve just never seen conjuring before. It’s impressive.” The healer’s small smile grew just a fraction larger.

“I’m going to do a small examination to see if there’s any internal damage,” he said, pulling his other glove off and setting it aside. “This one is magic-based, if that’s alright?”

“Definitely,” Atsumu said, heart rate picking up as the healer’s slender fingers came to rest at the sides of his head, thumbs gently pressing into his temples and other fingers hugging the back of his skull. A slight tingling sensation swept over him, and the healer retracted his hands.

“No internal damage, so I think you’ll be fine, but my magic did detect a bit of pain in there.”

“Oh, uh, that,” Atsumu felt his flush increase, and scratched the back of his head, “I may be a little hungover.”

The healer quirked an eyebrow. “Well, falling off a seven-metre wall makes a lot more sense now.”

“Hey! It was a patch of loose stones! They gave out under me!”

“I believe you,” the healer murmured, sounding like he meant the opposite, before pressing gentle hands into the side Atsumu had landed on. “You seem to have escaped without injury, which is good. I’d recommend taking the rest of the day off to be sure, but I don’t think a leave of absence is necessary. If you have any more issues, you can come back for another check.” He took a step back as Atsumu slid off the bench.

“Ya got it, thanks Doc!” he said with a grin. The healer raised an eyebrow.

“You’re welcome. And it’s Sakusa. Try not to fall off that wall again, hmm?”

* * *

Atsumu was back the very next day.

Not because he fell off the wall again; his morning shift had been supremely uncomplicated, though he’d been ribbed a little for making a rookie mistake like walking near the edges. No, instead he’d wound his way down to the apothecary because the pretty healer – Sakusa, a name that had bounced ceaselessly around in his head for hours after he’d heard it yesterday – had occupied a lot of his thoughts.

“Is your head hurting after all?” Sakusa asked, frowning in concern as he leaned up on a ladder, scissors in one hand and a wicker basket slung over his other arm. Atsumu grinned, taking a moment to appreciate how Sakusa’s lean figure was accentuated by his fitted coat before responding.

“Oh, nah, my head feels fine,” he said, eyes tracking the healer as he stepped down from the ladder and set the basket on the table, adjusting his glasses with a curious look.

“Oh? Were you looking to buy a remedy of some kind? I do have peppermint oil if you’re still feeling the effects of that hangover.”

Atsumu blushed a little at the reminder. “Uhh, I’m fine in that regard. How’s business been today?”

The healer shot him a confused look, but deigned to respond anyway. “Not bad. Mostly just restocking. Why? Looking for a new job?”

“Uhh, no, just curious.”

“…Right,” Sakusa said, picking up his basket and moving over to a bench that looked like it was used for crushing and mixing herbs. “Did you have a wall-top patrol this morning?”

“Oh, yeah! Gotta say, nothing much happens up there, but the view sure is nice.”

“Ahh, I bet. I’ll have to take a trip up there at some point.”

“Have ya ever climbed up to treat someone?” Atsumu asked, leaning down against one of the stone examination benches as Sakusa started to pluck leaves off a plant and dropped them delicately into a bowl. The healer’s brow furrowed for a moment, before he shook his head.

“No, people usually bring patients to me, actually. More sensible, since I have all my supplies here.”

“Ahh, that makes sense,” Atsumu murmured, eyes refocusing on the mortar that Sakusa had started to dump other herbs into, “Whatcha making?”

“It’s an arthritis treatment,” Sakusa murmured, noting Atsumu’s confused expression and elaborating, “ahh, chronic joint pain. Usually in the elderly, you know? Anyway, one of my patients suffers more in the cold weather, so since winter is rapidly approaching, I saw fit to whip up a pain reliever for her.”

“Ohh, cool! I know jackshit about medicine, honestly.” The healer raised an eyebrow.

“I can tell,” he said, tone equals parts wry and amused. Atsumu leaned a little closer, to get a better look at what the other man was making. His eyes widened when he caught scent of the mixture.

“Oh wow, that actually smells pretty good.”

“It’s just a dressing,” Sakusa said, cheeks looking a little darker as he turned his attention back to the bowl as he started to grind the materials together. “Peppermint oil, ginger and aloe vera to reduce pain, with willow bark to help control the inflammation. She can combine it with ice when the first snows of the season come.”

“Ohhh, fancy. You’re really good at this, huh?”

“It’s just a simple natural remedy,” Sakusa murmured, “Probably nowhere near as exciting as patrolling a city’s defences.”

Atsumu shrugged. “It’s mostly just walking around or chatting with the giants passing through, but it’s not bad. But making stuff to help people? That’s amazing.”

Sakusa coughed, head tipped down in a way that meant his curls were hiding almost the entirety of his face. “Well, uh, thank you.”

Atsumu smiled at him, bright and genuine. “It’s just the truth!”

A small noise from the other end of the shop – probably the herbalist Kita – made them both jump. Sakusa cleared his throat, and turned his full attention to the dressing he was making. With his face tilted up a little more now, Atsumu could see that even the tips of his ears were now tinged pink.

“Are you sure you don’t need to buy anything? I can do another concussion check for you if necessary, too.”

The thought of having Sakusa’s slender fingers braced against his temples again was a wonderful one, but he could see a long list of treatments that the healer was probably looking to create that day, and wasting more of his own lunch break was inadvisable.

“Ahh, no, no! And my head really does feel fine.”

The healer gave him a look, eyebrow cocked perfectly. “Well in that case…unless you are looking to buy something or be treated, I will have to usher you out of the store. I don’t like my workspace to be cluttered, by ingredients  _ or _ people.”

“Oh. Do you have, like, breaks where the shop is empty?”

Sakusa’s mouth pinched slightly. “Not particularly, and keeping my area clean isn’t something constrained by operating hours. You’re free to come back if you’re a patient. Otherwise, perhaps stick to your wall for the time being.”

Atsumu grinned, sighing internally over the fact that even the healer’s sharp look was making his heart speed up. This guy was too damn attractive.  _ And the flush he gets when complimented is so cute _ .

“You got it. And hey! If you ever wanna come up and see the view from the wall, just let me know. It’s always beautiful on the solstice.”

Sakusa fiddled with his hands. “I…”

Atsumu cocked his head to the side, knowing that his eyes were probably very wide and hopeful right now, but caring very little about it.

The pleading look won out, Sakusa’s blush deepened, and he conceded.

“…I’ll think about it.”

* * *

The next time Atsumu found himself in Sakusa’s front room was after winter had finally started. He hadn’t necessarily been  _ planning _ to get hurt again, but the healer’s words from last time had been on his mind a lot. 

_ You’re free to come back if you’re a patient. _

...And he had maybe skimped on caution when walking along a patch of ice that had formed on a narrow watchtower walkway.

And he did just that.

The indignity of getting hauled into the warm storefront with the help of Aran and Iizuna was quickly forgotten when he laid eyes once more on Sakusa. But even that joy was fleeting as the healer raised an eyebrow at him, expression quickly becoming concerned when he spotted the blood trickling down one side of his face.

“Did you, by chance, fall off the wall again?” the healer asked as he probed the wound, wincing before pulling out a pair of tweezers.

“A watchtower, actually,” Atsumu explained as he felt Sakusa carefully extract small, loose bits of barbed wire from the right side of his forehead. “I didn’t actually fall that far. There was just a nasty store of wire right underneath.”

Sakusa tutted, extracting a small barb that made Atsumu flinch, gently touching the injury with his other hand, once again professionally gloved. “Well, lucky for you, that wire is fresh, so I don’t think an infection is imminent. I’ll still have to clean and disinfect it, though. Which will probably sting a little.”

The warning was welcome, and Atsumu was able to swallow his yelp when a cloth doused with rubbing alcohol was pressed to the jagged cut and used to carefully clean the injury. He could feel a mixture of blood and alcohol running down the side of his face as Sakusa patiently worked. Several sharp stings had him flinching, eyes watering from pain and hands curling into fists as he tried to ignore the pain.

Sakusa’s eyes drifted from Atsumu’s cut to his eyes. “I have a dressing that can definitively remove any infectants, but it’ll hurt more than this one.”

Atsumu sighed at the thought, but he’d seen firsthand how horrific infections could get when allowed to spiral out of control. It was best to nip them in the bud, as unpleasant of a prospect it was. He nodded, and Sakusa slipped away for a moment, returning with a clean cloth doused in something that stunk ferociously. 

“You can grab a hold of me, if you need, to manage the pain,” Sakusa murmured, “I hardly want to have to stitch up cuts on your palms after this.” Gentle fingers swept Atsumu’s matted hair out of the way, then Sakusa stepped closer and pressed the cloth to the injury.

Atsumu had privately promised himself he wouldn’t take up Sakusa’s offer, but the minute the blinding pain registered his hands were unfurling from their fists and gripping the front of Sakusa’s embroidered coat. The healer paused, setting the cloth aside for a moment to shift Atsumu’s grip from his delicate coat to his much studier hips, and continued. Atsumu had to squeeze his eyes shut, lids fluttering as he did his best to stay still.

He forced himself to focus on his hands, trying to keep his grip loose enough that he didn’t hurt Sakusa. That endeavour proved distracting enough that he could bear the pain until Sakusa pulled the cloth away, now reaching for a needle and thread. The small stings of the needle were a lot less painful than whatever the healer had put in his cut, and he found himself leaning into the gentle warmth of the man in front of him. Atsumu just caught himself at the last minute from pressing his head to Sakusa’s chest.

“There we go, all stitched up,” Sakusa’s voice brought him back to reality, and Atsumu tugged his hands off strong hips with a flush rising on his cheeks. A damp cloth wiped away the last of the blood on his face, and the healer smiled ever so slightly at him. “I know you probably want to go, but it might be for the best if you come in tomorrow morning for another check, just in case there is any infection to be dealt with.”

Atsumu blinked. “Oh, yeah, that’s fine. I’ll be up bright and early.” He brushed his fingers over the stitches, a strange sensation on previously smooth skin. “Thank you.”

“No worries,” Sakusa said softly. “The, um, the cut might scar, but it won’t be too bad. Plus,” he turned away from Atsumu, hiding his face but unable to conceal how the tips of his ears reddened, “It’ll make you look very tough, I’m sure.”

Atsumu blinked, before a grin overtook his face. “Oh? You think so?”

Sakusa just grunted non-committedly, and Atsumu grinned down at his legs for a moment before a thought occurred to him. “Hey, I just realised. You get the luxury of calling me by my first name, but I don’t know yours. Quite the tragedy, don’t you think?”

“Sure it is,” Sakusa snarked.

“Oh? Can I know your lovely given name, then?” Atsumu asked, wiggling his eyebrows. Sakusa didn’t oblige, staring at him wryly.

“That’s a privilege reserved for loyal customers only,” he declared, closing his book decisively. Atsumu nodded, ran his fingers over the neat stitches again, and devised a new plan.

(He returned the next week from a short fall that, while resulting in no head injuries or cuts this time, had left him with a badly sprained ankle. Sakusa saw him get dragged in, sighed so long and loud that Atsumu wondered if he was trying to expel every ounce of air in his lungs, and got to work.)

(His name was Kiyoomi, and it was every bit as beautiful as its owner.)

* * *

From there, things snowballed. Sometimes he would fall or get injured on purpose, sometimes not. On one occasion, completely by accident, he was chased halfway across town by an angry dog, and had to have his leg treated for a nasty bite. Running so far hadn’t been fun, but getting to strip in front of Kiyoomi and then have the healer’s red-faced attention on his thigh for over an hour definitely made up for it.

He was lucky that he never broke bones or had anything worse than a few cuts. Atsumu’s goal wasn’t to be so badly injured that he was unable to work, after all. Just to get small injuries that were best looked over, at the very least. To his credit, Kiyoomi never pointed out what Atsumu was so obviously doing, though his co-workers had no such reservations.

Aran took up a habit of apologising to both Kiyoomi and Kita whenever he was the unlucky soul tasked with bringing Atsumu to the apothecary. Kita seemed more mildly amused by the situation than anything else, usually choosing to show Aran around and leaving Kiyoomi to sigh and tut over Atsumu.

From scrapes to bruises to one very hard hit to the head (an unintentional injury), Atsumu got to feel Kiyoomi’s attentive hands on him more in the space of a month than everyone else in town had in their entire lives. And the more he felt their touch, the more he craved it.

(It led to a few not so innocent mental ventures, that particular obsession.)

Perhaps the worst part was that Kiyoomi let him do it. He gave Atsumu long, measured looks, slapped at his hands if he tried to poke at his injuries. Kiyoomi was full of endless lectures about watching where he was walking, being more careful and having consideration for his health... yet he never straight up told him to stop.

And Kiyoomi was twenty-two, well aware of Atsumu’s intentions judging by his blushing, and held no reservations about telling patients to stop fucking themselves up. If he wanted Atsumu to stop, he would have given him a flat look and told him so.

Just the knowledge of that made Atsumu feel even crazier about getting to know the healer.

Kiyoomi wasn’t talkative, but Atsumu had always been good with people, so he did his best to drag conversation out of him. They told one another countless things about themselves; Atsumu learned in depth what Kiyoomi’s days at an Institute learning magic had been like, that he loved pickled food (especially pickled plums, which he ate at a frankly staggering pace), his closest friend was his cousin Komori, currently a trader in a nearby city, and he adored snakes.

In return, Atsumu spilled a lot about himself, too. Kiyoomi was surprised to discover he was half of a set of identical twins, fascinated when Atsumu explained the childhood he’d had of almost constant travel between Amaina and his family’s ancestral farmlands, and endeared when he recounted endless days of messing around with his brother and trying to (lovingly) drown one another in the bogs near their old house.

But the superficial gave way for deeper routes of discussion. Fears, dreams, and strange experiences were exchanged between them as well, to the point that Atsumu became sure Kiyoomi knew him better than everyone in the city save his twin. The bond they shared, initially just one between a healer and patient, had grown into something that was so much more.

Getting further into winter proved to be a much busier time for both Atsumu and Kiyoomi, so much so that Atsumu cut down on the attempts he made to see the healer again. The poor guy looked overrun without dealing with Atsumu’s bullshit as well.

With the months growing colder, the number of frostbite cases, plus injuries from black ice, meant that the apothecary’s front room was almost always packed with people waiting to be seen and offered remedies. For the city guards, too, the workload was increased. Several humans and other beings who lived in the Thicket tended to spend blizzard weeks in Amaina as opposed to stewing it out in the forests, so they had to process every person who came into the city.

It meant early starts and late finishes, and hour after hour spent on top of a frigid stone wall. Atsumu pulled on his best gloves and doubled up on woollen socks, but still had to soak his extremities in hot water after every shift to chase away frostbite.

He missed annoying the healer, but had resigned himself to the fact that continually injuring himself for the sake of getting laid was probably not his best idea. So, after two months of straight bullshit, he decided to put an end to it. He didn’t want Kiyoomi to drag himself all the way to the outskirts of the city because of his own idiocy.

Which the universe, of course, chose as the best time for more disaster to strike at Amaina’s wall.

The wall needed repairs, that was a fact, and every member of the city guard had been delighted when the mayor had finally cleared funds for its refurbishment a week ago. But the winter solstice swung around so soon afterwards that no repairs were able to be done before the busiest night of the year.

Festivities for the solstice were always insanely fun, with the city guard stripped down to its bare bones so as many people as possible could go party. But Atsumu, in a rare display of conscience, had volunteered to work that night, to make up for the many shifts he’d wasted away talking to Kiyoomi. Which meant he was stuck walking up the top when a newer recruit had run up behind him, stepped on a bit of crumbling stone, and just… _ dropped _ .

But Atsumu barely had time to register the fall before the stone underneath  _ him _ gave way as well. He didn’t fall far though, and when he landed, it was into a massive palm, face slamming hard into a callus. He gawked, spinning to look up at the concerned face of one of the Thicket giants, who had just grabbed him out of a freefall.

Then they both remembered the other man, and stared down in concern. It struck Atsumu as a little unfair, that he, the person who’d fallen off the wall the most and walked away unharmed, was the one who got caught in time.

People were already shouting for a medic, one young woman sprinting off in what Atsumu knew by heart now as the route to the apothecary. His stomach turned over.

The giant who’d caught him lowered him to the ground, not far from the place the other soldier had fallen, and he made sure to bow deeply and thank her before rushing over to see if the guy was alright. The churning feeling in his stomach only grew worse the closer he got. He couldn’t see much, but what  _ was _ visible was marked by bright splashes of red.

“Move!” a voice yelled, sending the people near the man scattering, Atsumu included, as Kiyoomi, who looked like he’d sprinted the whole way there, dropped to his knees and started tugging things from the bag of supplies he’d hauled along with him. Kita was a step behind him, face paling when he saw the other soldier as he too scrambled to grab supplies.

Atsumu could hardly even stand to watch as Kiyoomi worked, every movement quick, methodical and meaningful as he treated the massive gash and corresponding crack along the side of the man’s head, checking for internal damage with a small burst of magic. The frown on his face told Atsumu it wasn’t looking good.

He had to step away when the smell of iron, sharp and cloying, hit his nose, pressing his face to the rough stone of the wall and inhaling the aged, dirty scent.

“Is he gonna be alright?” he asked Aran when the other man came to check on him.

“Not sure,” he said honestly, “Sakusa and Shinsuke are just spouting out a bunch of medical gibberish right now, so it’s anyone’s guess. What about you? You fell too, right?”

“Yeah. One of the giants caught me, though. I’ll be fine.”

Aran nodded. “You got some dirt on your face. Probably the giant.”

“Yeah,” Atsumu murmured, lifting his head to look at where people were still gathered around, Kiyoomi’s expression sharp with deadly focus. “I honestly don’t know how he does this stuff.”

“He trained for years,” Aran murmured, “but yeah, you’d have to have a pretty steely resolve.” Atsumu nodded in agreement, and they fell silent, watching. Kiyoomi had explained the process of healing magic to him one day, while binding a sprain.

_ Healing magic doesn’t just throw everything in your body together like it’s supposed to go. All it does is speed up your body’s ability to reconstruct tissue. So, before any magic can be applied to an injury, I need to still put everything back where it belongs. No healer on earth would use magic on a broken leg without setting the bone first, because otherwise all you’re doing is letting the bone heal wrong. _

Atsumu had found that piece of information fascinating, and having that knowledge meant he sighed in relief when Kiyoomi finally dropped the metal tools he’d been holding in his bare, blood-slicked hands, rolled up the sleeves of his coat, and started to use magic.

The people around them craned their heads closer, murmuring in curiosity as Kiyoomi’s eyes fell shut, and he poured his energy into healing. Atsumu watched his face, eying every twitch of his muscles, flutter of his eyelids and quirk of his lips.

It felt like an eternity later when Kiyoomi’s eyes snapped open, he lowered his hands, and the man who had fallen sat up, expression baffled, and head wound very absent. 

The group around them broke into cheers as Atsumu and Aran both slumped with relief from their faraway post and grinned weakly at one another. Crisis averted. 

Kiyoomi straightened up, face a little paler than before and hands red with blood, but a weak smile in place. Atsumu watched as he obviously gave Kita orders to take the guy in question to the apothecary to rest and be observed for the night. The group dispersed, with Aran walking over to help carry the medical supplies back.

Which just left Kiyoomi, looking exhausted in his bloodied clothes. Atsumu walked over to him, taking his hands gently.

“Hey, let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?”

Kiyoomi’s eyes were relieved when they met Atsumu’s.

“Yeah.”

* * *

Atsumu scrounged soap up from a nearby sympathetic merchant, obtained a bucket of water and a gentle scrubbing brush, and sat Kiyoomi down before getting to work, scrubbing off layer after layer of congealed blood from his mid-forearms to his fingertips. The healer himself just closed his eyes as Atsumu did so, relaxing into the ministrations.

He eyed the cuffs of Kiyoomi’s sleeves with slight disappointment when he noticed the bloodstains there.

“You’ll have to get your coat professionally cleaned,” he lamented, damp fingers brushing over the fine fabric. Kiyoomi opened his eyes, following Atsumu’s gaze down. He hummed.

“Probably,” he sighed, “I’ll take it in tomorrow.”

“Hmm,” Atsumu grunted, “you feeling alright? You look a little pale.”

“Ahh, just residual shock, I think, plus the energy expenditure of healing such a serious injury,” he murmured, shuffling a little closer so their legs were slotted together. Atsumu picked up the clean towel he’d begged off someone in the guard, and dried Kiyoomi’s arms off, happy to see no residual traces of blood, save those on his clothes. “Atsu?”

“Yeah?” he asked, looking up as Kiyoomi opened his eyes again, the skin around them strained.

“Please……just, promise me you won’t fall off that wall again,” he murmured. “Please.”

“I won’t, promise,” Atsumu murmured, bringing Kiyoomi’s calloused hands to his mouth so he could gently kiss them. “That was a hell of a wake-up call, don’t you worry.”

“Good,” Kiyoomi murmured. “Ugh, I should probably go back to the apothecary-”

“Hey now, I don’t think anyone will begrudge you a quick break, after that. Besides, Kita can watch over him until you get back.”

Kiyoomi sighed. “True…but still-”

“Hey, come on now, the  _ aurora _ is gonna start soon, and I  _ did _ promise to show you the view from the top of the wall.”

Kiyoomi hesitated, before ducking his head slightly and nodding. “I…yeah, Kita can hold the fort for once.” Atsumu smiled softly, and offered his hand to help the other up. Kiyoomi took it, Atsumu hefting them to their feet and felt his stomach flip over when, rather than letting go, the healer intertwined their fingers.

He took a detour via a small stall from the festival selling cinnamon sweet cakes, buying one for both himself and Kiyoomi. (Despite the healer’s many assurances that it wasn’t necessary.) And, with a sweet cake in one hand and the beautiful healer in the other, Atsumu led him up the stairs that hugged the side of Amaina’s wall.

He steered very clear of the older parts of the wall, tugging Kiyoomi over to the widest, newest and steadiest section of the structure. The healer gasped softly, eyes widening in wonder as he stared out at the vast swath of land beyond the walls. In the darkness, it was difficult to see, but the vibrancy of the gleaming  _ aurora _ that’d just burst to life above them breathed life into the landscape, illuminating fields laden with snow, distant mountainous peaks and sprawling forest. In the distance a massive lake glittered green and purple.

“The view is probably better during the day,” Atsumu said apologetically. Kiyoomi just squeezed his hand, smiling at him widely.

“It’s beautiful as is,” he murmured, shuffling unmistakably closer to Atsumu and leaning his head on his shoulder. “You’re so lucky to see this every day.”

Atsumu just blushed right back and leant his own head on Kiyoomi’s, watching the lights spread mesmerizingly across the sky as they nibbled on their sweetcakes. His toes felt frigid in his boots, there was a twinging in his ankle from how he’d fallen earlier, and the sight of the blood from earlier wouldn’t quite leave his mind...yet Atsumu couldn’t possibly have imagined a night more perfect than one spent with Kiyoomi tucked against his side.

He turned away from the lights to sneeze at one point, cursing softly when pain shot through his nose and he had to cradle it with a hand. Kiyoomi straightened up.

“You got hit in the face,” he murmured, hand reaching out to gently brush away a small bit of dirt on his face. “Was that from landing in the giant’s hand?”

“Oh, musta been,” he murmured, feeling his cheeks flush from the healer’s touch. “It’s fine, doesn’t hurt much anyway.”

“You sure? I  _ can _ find some pain relievers-”

“Thanks, but I’ll be good,” Atsumu said with a smile, before wiggling his eyebrows, “unless you wanna kiss it better, of course.”

He expected Kiyoomi to roll his eyes at that, or give another of his typical exasperated sighs. Maybe even to give him a slap on the arm and a short lecture. Not to raise an eyebrow in challenge, cup Atsumu’s jaw with one hand and press a gentle, sweet kiss to the bridge of his nose. The healer pulled partially away, hesitated, then leant in and pressed another to his lips.

Atsumu’s breath stuttered to a stop in his chest, his heart barely daring to beat as he cautiously kissed back, heartbeat kicking back up into a rapid-fire pace when Kiyoomi pulled away, blush painted across his cheeks.

Atsumu cupped the healer’s face in his hands, gently smoothing his thumbs over the skin, which still bore a few specks of undetected cinnamon. “This feels like it’s in bad taste to say, but I’m really glad I fell off the wall that day.”

Kiyoomi rolled his eyes. “You’re ridiculous,” he said, before leaning in to kiss Atsumu again. Their lips slid together, a focal point of warmth in the frigid winter air as they both pressed themselves closer under the light of the  _ aurora _ .

Atsumu pulled away this time, grinning as he combed a curl back from Kiyoomi’s face.

“I am. And you’re perfect.”

Kiyoomi turned red enough to rival a tomato, eyes crinkling in equal parts pleasure and embarrassment at the words.

“Just kiss me, clumsy bastard.”

Atsumu was all too happy to obey.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hello to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/2701Anubis), [Tumblr](https://anubis2701.tumblr.com/), or, if you're a fan of my fics generally (both BNHA and Haikyuu) my [Discord Server!](https://discord.gg/VeAaGy3at9)


End file.
